The 46-year-old actor told The Andrew Marr Show the former president had taken a particular liking to his character Bobby Axelrod on the Showtime series, set in the New York financial district.

‘The [former] President Of The United States, Barack Obama said to me a few months ago, “I’m loving Billions, I love your character in it, I love Bobby,’ he said.

‘The only thing is that hedge fund managers aren’t that cool”.

Damian Lewis stars in Showtime series Billions (Picture: FilmMagic)

Lewis agreed with Andrew Marr that his Wall Street stockbroker character had a bit of a ‘swagger’.

‘Just to speak to your point, they have a swagger, not all do, there’s a sense of them digging your heels in and being the kid in the corner of the playground shouting, “but I’m right, I’m right, I know I’m right”,’ he said.

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‘They bat against the tide and that’s perhaps the one romantic thing you can say about then.’

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As for the future of the programme, Lewis was unsure if Billions would hold its audience beyond a second series.

‘I don’t think this series will last through seasons three, four and five without the core rotting. I don’t think that will happen,’ he said.

He added: ‘Where they are just going to be in the same place as someone they adore. And what can then happen can be remarkable and exciting and challenging.

‘Certainly in a play like The Goat, people can have a real experience of theatre for the first time. And I think they can go away thinking, ‘that was an amazing evening beyond seeing who we came to see”.’

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